


Seventy

by mspotterlovegood



Series: Lunarry drabbles, one-shots and prompts [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One-Shot, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF, Tumblr Prompt, first I love you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:39:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3914986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mspotterlovegood/pseuds/mspotterlovegood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Luna Lovegood realized she was in love with Harry Potter,  It was the most terrifying, yet exhilarating moment of her life. Half because she thought she thought she was having some kind of minor heart attack, and half because the feeling was unfamiliar and odd to her. Tumblr prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seventy

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot was a response to a Lunarry fic prompt by tumblr user xenodora.
> 
> "xenodora asked: Prompt: Luna realizing she's in love with Harry, or vice versa, or both."
> 
> The original prompt has been edited in this version in order to make some grammatical corrections. Some sentences have been fixed/removed/replaced due to editing, but not anything major. I pretty much skimmed through and fixed anything that sounded strange. 
> 
> This fic is told in Luna's P.O.V. It is not compliant with any current or future AU world. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a kudos or comment if you did! (:

When Luna was younger, her mother had told her:  
_“Luna, the way you know you’ve found the right man is when you don’t fall in love with him just once. In fact, when you meet him, you’ll know, because you’ll fall in love with him once… twice… three… even six times. Even seven. Even seventy, really.”_  
_“You fell in love with daddy_ seventy _times!?”_ a curious Luna had exclaimed, her already protuberant eyes wide with wonder. _“Is that even possible, mama?”_  
_“Yes, my little moon. More possible than the promise of the night chasing the sun away. More possible than the air in your lungs. Love is a fascinating, wonderful, impossibly possible thing.”_ She’d responded. _“You’ll know, little moon, when you’re in love. And every now and then again, when you least expect it, somehow, some way, you’ll come to realize it all over again, for the rest of your days.”_  
And while Luna never knew for sure if this particular type of truth was real, she believed it with all her heart, so that when it happened — when she fell in love, she would know right away. Somehow, some way, she would fall in love not once, not twice, but _seventy_ times.

The first time Luna Lovegood realized she was in love with Harry Potter, It was the most terrifying, yet exhilarating moment of her life. Half because she thought she thought she was having some kind of minor heart attack, and half because the feeling was unfamiliar and odd to her. Something deep inside that felt unexplored — as though someone had whispered “lumos” in her heart and lit up a space that she never knew was empty until that day. They had been dating for some time at that point, about six months. There was an attraction and understanding between them, and Luna oh so enjoyed Harry’s company.  
They had shared much in their time together, and Luna had found out that Harry enjoyed walks as much as he did, and they went on them frequently through different areas around her home — unfortunately, it was her love for walking barefoot that would lead to one of the most physically painful times in her life, and one of the most memorable.  
Everything in her life came to a horrible halt when Luna fell unfortunately ill due to poison from a Vex Vine, a plant with venomous thorns that traveled through certain wooded areas, often hidden by fallen leaves. It drained the magical power of a wizard or witch, rendering them very weak, and caused the infected individual to have an extremely high fever. A nasty sickness of which could only be healed by a Cleansing Potion that not only tasted horribly like a combination of ginger and licorice, but also came with the unfortunate side effect of vomiting in order to purge the poison. It had been Luna’s fault, really. She wasn’t always as careful as she perhaps should be, and ended up piercing one of her toes on the plants thorn. The poison spread so fast, she did not even have time to utter a simple ‘ _ouch_ ’. In what felt like seconds, the world went dark, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in St. Mungos.

She was hospitalized for some time before she was allowed to go home. However, every single day, Harry had come to see her, sometimes going as far as to spend the night. He’d often bring her muggle books and read them to her, knowing how much she adored those strange muggle tales about princesses and frogs. Once, he actually brought her an old, Egyptian Runes book that he had found lodged under a rug at Grimwald place, supposing she might find it incredibly interesting. Which she did, but she found that simply listening to Harry try to explain Runes, a subject he was absolutely clueless on, was much more intriguing than the book itself. She watched him with a smile, and tried not to laugh when he grumbled to himself, saying how he couldn’t understand how Hermione actually enjoyed stuff like this at Hogwarts.   
“I mean, it’s just a bunch of weird… symbol things,” he muttered, helplessly attempting to discern them.

He also didn’t mind her vomiting, though he did try to look the other way when it happened. But he held her hand each time, squeezing it when the less than attractive act was over, and giving her a wet cloth magicked to clean itself that the healers had left when she needed it to wipe away any remnants. Once she left St. Mungos, her fever going down enough for her to return home and continue taking her Cleansing Potion there, he mustered up the courage to ask her father if he could stay there temporarily with them to help Luna get back on her feet again. Her father hesitantly agreed, something that did not go unnoticed from either Harry or Luna. Neither of them chose to question it, simply enjoying the opportunity to be together despite her sickness.

She wasn’t sure how, or when exactly she began to fall in love with Harry Potter. Only the moment she knew for sure she did. It was a gloomy saturday, and Harry had spent all day at her bedside, bringing her food and tea. He also brought her knitting, one of her favorite things to do, and even got a homemade Gryffindor hat out of it. Since she could not charm it herself, she taught him how to make the lion on it roar loudly, but only to those of magical inheritance. Harry was quite good at charms, she found out, though he did somehow manage to make the Lion quack instead of roar the first few tries. Something they both shared quite a few laughs at, joking that perhaps the animal for Gryffindor should be a duck instead.  
That night, she had fallen asleep while he read her the latest edition of the Quibbler right-side up, her body absolutely worn out. When she awoke, she was surprised to see him leaned over her bedside, his head resting upon her lap and his hand loosely clasped around hers. A warmth that felt very different from the one the fever supplied passed over her, and she could not help but feel a wide grin creep upon her lips. Seeing him laying there so close to her… she felt overwhelmed with compassion and… love?

Maybe it was then, watching him sleep while they existed together in the darkness of her room sitting that her heart begin to beat a bit faster than usual. Because even though she supposed this behavior was to be expected from the child who defeated Voldemort twice, he’d always been just Harry to her, and always would be. Not the Boy-Who-Lived-Then-Died-Then-Lived-Again. Not “Famous Potter”. Not James Potter or Lily Potter incarnate, but Harry. Everything he was, as broken, and flawed as it seemed, were things she truly admired about him. It wasn’t his heroism, but rather his selflessness.The way he saw her through every day, every hard night though he had a choice not to. It was his insecurity, his hesitance to take the leap — and the wings that spread from his back when he found the faith to jump, that interested her. That he loved so deeply, yet didn’t quite understand how to always show it. It was the way he never once judged her, or called her Loony, and sat beside her without a second thought, never scared to call her ‘friend’. Never unwilling to lay down his life for another.  
It was the way his fingers, the same ones that held a wand that killed the worst evil on this world, gently wrapped around her own as though she was made of glass, that the dark area of her heart began to light up and pulse through her. The smiles he always gave her that were always genuine, not mocking or condescending. To him, she was would forever be just Luna, the last girl on the earth that anyone thought he’d end up losing days of sleep over. Is this what my mother meant? She thought to herself, bringing her free hand towards Harry’s unruly mess of hair and moving it out of his face so she could better see him, his glasses crooked halfway off his nose and his cheeks smooshed against her thigh. Is this what love is?

Luna suddenly recalled her Father speaking about her mother one night while studying the Greek language, telling her something very interesting about their concept of love.   _“Luna, did you know the opposite of love in the greek is not hate, but selfishness? Your mother and I heard that many years ago, and here I am now, reading it… fascinating, really, and rather true, if you think about it… Your mother was… well, she was a very selfless person. She gave up much to be with me, you know. Her parents thought I was off my rocker!”_ She could still hear his laugh following those words clear as day. But then his face had become serious as he looked at her. _“I hope that one day, you meet that kind of person, my love. I truly do.”_  
Luna bit her lower lip, rubbing her thumb over Harry’s temple, considering both her father and mother’s advice and view on love. She had consistently desired a relationship like theirs… of course, there were disagreements, but she remembered that whenever they cropped up, they took the time out to sit together with a cup of tea and discuss it, never going to bed angry with each other. And they always, always held hands, no matter what happened.  
It became clear to her, then, lying there in bed with him asleep on top of her. This, she thought, this was love. This was selflessness.

“Harry…” Luna whispered. He did not seem to hear her, but did let out a light snore. She giggled.  
“Harry,” she repeated, louder this time. This appeared to work, as Harry began to shift, unconsciously rubbing his face on the sheets resting on her leg, no doubt still half asleep.  
“Ugh, not yet…” he mumbled, voice muffled.  
“Why not?” Luna asked, tilting her head.  
“Because…” Harry began, but then stopped. A sudden realization must have hit him, because he shot up from the bed so quickly Luna heard his back give a nasty crack.  
“Uh, ah… did I just…” His face went red as he stared towards where he had rubbed his face and back to Luna. “Merlin’s beard, I—I’m sorry, Lu. I must have fallen asleep, I didn’t mean to—”  
“I love you,” said Luna abruptly, interrupting him.

Harry’s eyes went wide, his body completely still at these words. Saying nothing, Luna feared she had somehow accidentally petrified him without even realizing it.  
“Are you alright?” She asked, sincerely. “You look as if one of our pipe ghosts just came down and pantsed you… They tend to do that, you know. It’s very embarrassing.”  
This made Harry’s cheeks flush even more, hesitating a moment before shaking his head.  
“No, I haven’t been — err, pantsed, but… are you feeling okay?” he asked. “Did you just get done drinking your potion or something?”  
Luna gave him a quizzical look. “No, I just woke up.”  
“So… when you said ‘I love you’…” he began, nervously running a hand through his now extremely unkempt hair.  
“That was not the potion speaking, Harry. I meant it. I love you,” she said in earnest. She did not feel the need to hide her feelings, and though a small part of her wished to hear it back, she would not be disappointed otherwise. Sometimes, love took longer to sink in for others. “I understand if you aren’t ready to say it,” she told him reassuringly, squeezing his hand which was still left in hers. He seemed to forget it was there, startled at the sudden pressure. He stared at her for a bit, a lost look on his face, yet she could see his mind turning over her words, analyzing them and perhaps, even doubting them. Yet, after a minute or two, a toothy grin that met each ear appeared on his still blushing face.  
“It’s okay,” he told her, and squeezed her hand back. “I love you too, Lu. I’ve loved you for a very, very long time, to be honest… Guess I was just too much of a coward to say it,” he admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.  
Luna giggled. “Wrackspurts,” she told them. “I’m beginning to wonder if they live inside your head, Harry.”  
He laughed at that. “Yeah, so am I…”

A comfortable silence fell between them, and Luna felt a happiness inside of her she had never experienced before. Not just because the feeling was mutual, but because this was it — the first time of many that were to come. And as Harry dared to bend over and kiss her, first on the forehead, and then on the lips, not once complaining about their ridiculously chapped state, a peace made home in her heart. Something that she never knew was empty now felt so full, she was worried it would burst. She even checked her pulse afterwards, just to make sure it wasn’t a heart attack. After their declaration, Harry made them tea, and Luna had her last dose of Cleansing Potion for the day. And just like he had all the times before, he didn’t once let go of her hand. In fact, from that day on, he never really did. And Luna found that the first time she realized she was in love with Harry Potter was indeed one of many. For the next few years, she would count each time, and write it down on parchment, just like this, and place it inside the Egyptian Rune’s book he’d gotten her so many years ago. Maybe, just maybe, one day, she thought, she may even surpass seventy.

And you know what? _She did._


End file.
